Listen to the Sermon
Sermon Details
- Pastor Name: Jonathan Cornell
- Date & Time: August 23, 2015 | 10:00am
*Please be aware that this week’s sermon covers a sensitive topic.
______________________________
SERMON SERIES:
Practicing Faith, Hope, and Love
Wondering why I am standing down here and not up there? This morning I am going to be speaking with you about a subject that is very real, immediate, and delicate. It’s the subject of our sexuality and our sexual ethics. And instead of standing up there robed in ecclesiastical authority, I want to stand here as a man who is a part of this community, a person who is not unaffected by what God’s word has for us. I want to speak with you softly today as someone who is trying to work this out in his own life, and who like each one of us struggles in one way or another as God seeks to shape and change my life.
Finally, brothers and sisters, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus that, as you learned from us how you ought to live and to please God (as, in fact, you are doing), you should do so more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from fornication; that each one of you know how to control your own body in holiness and honor, not with lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one wrong or exploit a brother or sister in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, just as we have already told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. For God did not call us to impurity but in holiness. Therefore whoever rejects this rejects not human authority but God, who also gives his Holy Spirit to you.
In these last few weeks, we’ve been looking at the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians. Very briefly, what has happened thus far is that Paul, the Apostle, came to a group of people who did not know God, a group of people who placed their hopes in idols. Then after sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with them, everything changed, and they decided to follow the good news.
What is that Good News? Hear me now, the Good News of the gospel is that God loves you more than you can imagine. All of those things that cause us to feel alienated and distant from God are taken away, and you are brought near to God through the merciful love and sacrifice of Jesus Christ, who died for our sins on the cross and redeemed our lives with his grace. The Good News is that through Jesus Christ you are accepted by God. This letter was written to a people who have embraced the fact that we are already accepted, already loved, already showered with grace, because Jesus loves them as he loves you.
Download the entire transcript: 1 Thessalonians 4 1-8 Gods Will Your Sanctification
